Sustainability Technology & The Evolution of Smart Cities

Small, affordable, smart multi-purpose units

Increasingly populous cities around the world are facing a housing crisis: a shortage of affordable housing. Furthermore, as urban residents are increasingly mobile many find themselves moving to new areas. In doing so, they are forced to sell their houses/apartment and seek a new investment elsewhere. The process of building a house is costly, resource-intensive, lengthy and stressful for people that seek to relocate.

Technology:

The KODA is a 30m2 unit with multiple uses that can be set up in unused central plots and developmental land with temporary building permits. The unit can be transformed into homes, offices, showrooms, shops, business hubs, community spaces or classrooms.

The compact unit has large glass panels in the front that are made of four-layers. Its walls are made of concrete-timber composite panels that are 7 inches thick. Yacht sails are fitted while casting the concrete to provide texture. All parts are pre-manufactured offsite and assembled once on site.

The units are fitted with SMART technology with climate control sensors for temperature and CO2 levels, digital door lock, built-in LED lighting as well as smart heating, cooling and power systems that are concealed within the walls. The roofs are fitted with solar panels which are expected to produce more energy than the unit consumes annually, even in places with little sun.

The home can be assembled in seven hours and disassembled in four hours. As such, the unit is mobile and can be re-assembled in new locations as desired by its owner. The parts are transported to the site with a trailer and then are assembled by crane.

Set up partnerships with retailers, hotels and schools to roll-out and scale up KODA nationally (in Estonia). Once costs are driven down by increasing demand, invest in more factory capacity and begin to establish partnerships in EU.

Seek ways to market the KODA living model to household residents that seek an affordable, smart and eco-friendly housing.

Partner with cities that wish to build community spaces (or other engaging cultural spaces) in vacant plots of the city.

Pretty snazzy. Not sure how construction permits/property ownership works in Estonia, but I imagine there would be a lot of red tape around getting this type of home approved in the US (unless you already own the land its being constructed on). In addition to homes, work, school, I can envision this company getting into the event space (weddings in particular). Anyway, the design is way nicer than any NYC apartment I’ve seen. For $150k, it might be time to move to Estonia :).

This is an interesting technology with multiple applications, for example with health. However, I wonder the extent to which a technology like this would break through. For example, I wonder how accepting people will be to the use of these small robots in their bodies in medical environments. There are likely social/moral implications that could hinder their deployment on top of the costs.